Calendar:Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Maggie is the calendar and meteorologist for this week. She was not here yet today. We put the numbers on the calendar, discussed the patterns and found the day of the week in Spanish. Reviewed the colors, shapes, Spanish, Sign Language and Sight words.

Fun Facts/Brainstorming:Reviewed what the children learned about mud. Today the children told me everything they know about corn. Fun facts: Corn is produced on every continent of the world with the exception of Antarctica. Grits are small broken grains of corn. They were first produced by Native Americans centuries ago. Corn was grown only by the Indians of North, Central and South America. Petrified corn cobs that are over 5000 years old have been found in ancient Indian villages in the Western Hemisphere. When Columbus’s ships landed in what is now the West Indies, he traded with the Indians and took corn home with him to Spain. The Indian name for corn was MA-HIZ which the early settlers began to call maize. The Indians of North America helped save the settlers from starvation during their first winter in America by providing them with corn to eat. The Indians also shared their methods of preparing corn with the settlers. This included corn bread, corn pudding, corn soup and fried corn cakes. Corn was so valuable in the days of the early settlers that it was used as money and traded for meat and furs. Corn is completely domesticated, it cannot exist as a wild plant.

Creative Development: Discussed: Have you seen a cornstalk? Corn plants are called stalks. They grow to be quite tall. Invited the children to squat down low and pretend to be a seed. I had them start growing slowly as they started to stand up. I had them reach really high to be a tall cornstalk. We then pretend to sway in the wind. I showed them the corn art they will be doing in afternoon centers.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discussed: What part of your body do you think is bigger than a corncob? What do you think is smaller? We had a corncob cut from paper about 6-7 inches. Each child told me a body part that they thought was bigger or smaller than the corncob. I then had that child come up and we measured the body part to see if it was longer or shorter like the child said. Each child had a turn to come up and measure a part of their body.

Physical Development: Discussed: Have you tasted popcorn? We had a parachute that the children could hold onto. We put balls on the parachute and the children moved it up and down to watch the balls pop like popcorn. We shook fast and slow to notice what the popcorn “balls” did. Discussed how the movement of kernels changes as the shaking speed changes. They played with this a long time. Carter liked climbing under the parachute and watch it over his head. He was cracking up. Harper would get us the balls as they would fall off and bring them back to us. We looked at popcorn kernels also and discussed how it is corn and we put heat and oil and it will pop to make popcorn.

Language and Literacy: Discussed: How high can you count? I had the children count to 20. We then looked at the journal page and showed them how to make an ear of corn. I then put prints on the corn with a crayon and the children had to keep track of how many I had and tell me when to stop. I could only put 20 on their.

Show and Tell:Crazy hair day- The children were to all have Crazy hair. Thomas had cool colors in his hair, Gretchen had 6 pony tails in her hair and Bo spiked his hair. We only had 4 kids participate in this. We discussed more and less as we counted those that had crazy hair and those that did not.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Outside play Center 2:My Little Journal-The children will go to the 20 page and draw a corn cob. They will then use a crayon to make a circle mark by pushing it on the paper. They will make 20 marks as corn on the cob. Center 3:Growing Corn Art- The children will dip the bubble wrap in paint and make prints on the corncob to resemble kernels. Used the green paper to make the husk or leaves. We taped the corncob to a craft stick. The children then untwisted the string and glued it to the end of the corncob to represent the silky tassel.

Calendar:Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Keira put the number on the calendar, discussed the weather, discussed the pattern and found the day of the week in Spanish. Reviewed the colors, shapes, Spanish, Sign Language and Sight words.

Fun Facts/Brainstorming:Reviewed what the children learned about Goats. Today the children told me everything they know about mud. Explained that mud is made when you mix water with dirt. Fun facts: Mud is a mixture of water and some combination of soil, silt, and clay. It can provide a home for numerous types of animals, including varieties of worms, frogs, snails, clams, and crayfish. Pigs and elephants, bathe in mud in order to cool off and protect themselves from the sun. In the construction industry, mud is a fluid material used to coat or adhere together items that dries hard such as plaster, stucco, concrete or any other similar substances.

Creative Development: Discussed: How do you stay dry in the rain? We looked at the letter U. The children found the letter U on the alphabet strip. The children told which of the two pictures by the U would help you stay dry in the rain? We discussed this letter and the sounds it makes. We then told all the U words we could think of. We also looked in the dictionary to find more U words. We showed the children how to make the letter Uu on the wipe off board. They each came up one at a time to practice writing the letter Uu.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discussed: Have you stepped in a mud puddle? What happened? We had different sizes of pigs on the floor. We had the children find the big pig. Asked the children if they think this big pig would rather roll in the big mud puddle or jump over it. The children then found the big or little mud puddle and jump over it or pretend to roll in it. After they all had a turn, we worked together to put the pigs in order from largest to smallest then match them with the correct size of mud puddles.

Language and Literacy: Discussed: How do you think mud feels? We looked at the Mud art they will be doing in afternoon centers.

Science: Discussed: What makes a mud puddle? We had a tub that had dirt in it. The children felt the dry dirt and explored in it. Discussed the sounds it made and what it felt like. They got to dig holes in the dirt. We then poured water into the dirt. The children discussed what happened to the dirt. They then got to play in the mud and discuss the difference between the dry dirt and mud. Discussed what we could do to dry up the puddles in the mud?

Social Studies: Discussed: How is mud helpful? We looked at the Friendship Feather and recalled what it means to be thankful. Since all crops need water to grow, farmers are thankful for muddy, rainy days and they like some sunshine, too. We used the weather sticks for the children to take turns coming up and choosing one weather stick. Another child then came up to find the opposite weather and place it next to first chosen stick. Then everyone shouted, “Thank you!” After each child had a turn to do this, we discussed what type of weather each child is thankful for and wrote it on the back of their Friendship Feather.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Outside play/Legos Center 2:Mud Art- We added sand to brown paint. The children then used their fingers to paint a picture or write words using the paint mixture.

Calendar:Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Keira put the number on the calendar. She discussed the pattern, weather and found the day of the week in Spanish. She reviewed our colors, shapes, Spanish, Sign Language and Sight words.

Fun Facts/Brainstorming:Reviewed what we learned about cheese. The children told me everything they know about goats. Fun facts: Goats are social animals, however unlike sheep, who they are closely related to, they are not flock-orientated. Goats communicate with each other by bleating. Mothers and kid goats recognize each other’s calls soon after the mother gives birth. Goats are very intelligent and curious animals. Their inquisitive nature is exemplified in their constant desire to explore and investigate anything unfamiliar which they come across. Goats have excellent coordination. They have great balance and are thus able to survive in precarious areas such as steep mountains. They can even climb trees and some species can jump over 5 feet high.

Creative Development: Discussed: What would you feed a goat? We looked at the Goat Puppets the children will be making in afternoon centers. The children practiced bleating like a goat.

Language and Literacy: Discussed: What words do you know that rhyme with the word “big?” We looked at the /ig/ word family. The children sounded the two sounds out. We then added letters to the beginning of /ig/ and the children sounded out the new words that we made. We used the wipe off board to do this. Discussed that we could keep changing the word by changing the first letter in the word. The children then used the Word Family cards to make words and read those words.

Science: Discussed: What animal sounds can you make? Invited the children to make a farm animal sound and encouraged the other children to guess the animal. We did a science project to do a sound matching game. Do different items make different sounds when shaken? We filled several jars with different small items like beans, rice, paper clips, etc. We made sure to have two jars of each item so that we had matching pairs. We taped around the jars to conceal what was in them and the children had to shake them and listen to find the matching jars.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discussed: How can goats get into trouble? Goats are known for eating items that are not food. We hung several items on a clothesline. The children named all the items. I had one child pretend to be a goat. The rest of the children turned their backs and the goat took one off the clothesline. When the children turned around they would say, “Oh no! The goat ate a treat! What did he eat?” The children would take turns guessing what they thought the missing item was. We did this several times so each child had a turn to be the goat and take an item.

Social and Emotional Development: Discussed: What might happen if a goat ate your shirt? Explained that goats often eat things they should not. This could make them sick. We looked at the letter X. Discussed its sounds /ks/, /gz/, /z/. Demonstrated how to make the letter Xx on the wipe off board and the children came up one at a time to practice making the letter. We then looked at the Journal pages and discussed things the goat should not eat. We had items cut from grocery ads to look at. Explained that sometimes when you see a sign for something you are not supposed to do, it has an X on it.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Outside play Center 2:My Little Journal-The children went to the X page and practiced writing their capital and lowercase X. They then glued on some of the pictures from the ads that goats should not eat. The children put a large X over the pictures that goats should not eat. Center 3: Goat Puppet- the children decorated their goat patterns. They used the souffle cups to add items to from nature to feed their goats. They taped the goats to the Jumbo Craft stick.

Calendar:Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Keira put the number on the calendar, discussed the weather and found the day of the week in Spanish. We reviewed all our colors, shapes, Spanish, Sign Language and Sight words.

Fun Facts/Brainstorming: Reviewed what the children learned about milk. Today the children told me everything they know about cheese. They told me how they thought cheese was made. Fun Facts: Remains of cheese have been found in Egyptian tombs over 4000 years old. Cheddar is the best-selling cheese in the United States. It takes around 10 liters of milk to make 1 kilogram of hard cheese. The United States is the top producer of cheese in the world. Pizza Hut uses about 140 million kilograms of cheese per year. A farm in Sweden makes moose cheese. Greece has the highest cheese consumption in the world.

Creative Development: Discussed: What animals do you think like cheese? We discussed how mice like to eat cheese. I hid cheese triangles around the room and had the children close their eyes when I did this. I had them go find one piece of cheese to eat. We then looked at the afternoon center craft they will be doing.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discussed: What is your favorite cheese? What shape is it? Cheese can be made into many shapes: circles, triangles, squares, or cylinders. We looked at the Design Mat. The children used the foam shape triangles of different sizes to fill in the blanks on the mat and complete the picture.

Creative Development: Discussed: How do you think cheese smells? Do like the taste? We got to try 9 different types of cheese. The children had to smell each type of cheese discuss what they smell and then eat the cheese. They would tell me if they liked it or not. Some pieces they kept wanting more of. We tried Swiss, Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Colby Jack, Apple Smoked Gouda Cheese, Muenster, Farmers, Garlic & Dill White Cheddar, and Fontina cheese. Stepheyne, Harper and Maggie ate a lot of cheese with us. We looked at the Little Theater skit. Discussed the title and predicted what we thought it would be about. I then picked children to play the different parts in skit. I would say the line and they would repeat it. They loved acting this story out. We then asked questions after doing the skit to check for comprehension.

Language and Literacy: Discussed: On what type of food do you like to put cheese? We looked at pictures of different foods and discussed if we would put cheese on it or not. I then showed the children how to draw a piece of cheese on white paper with a white crayon. The children couldn’t see the cheese though. I then painted over my drawing with watercolor paint and we watched the cheese appear.

Tumble Bus Day:See form by the front door to see what they did today on the bus.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Outside play/Large Cardboard Blocks Center 2:Changing Milk Art- The children made a drawing of a piece of cheese using white crayon on white paper. They then painted over their drawing with watercolor paint and watched it appear. Center 3:The children were given yarn, pompom, and cheese cutout. They used these collage pieces to make a mouse eating the cheese. They glued the pompom on as the body, the yarn was the tail and added a face from other pieces.

Calendar:Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Keira put the number on the calendar, discussed the weather and found the day of the week in Spanish. Reviewed the shapes, colors, Spanish, Sign Language and Sight words.

Fun Facts/Brainstorming: Reviewed what they learned about cows yesterday. Today the children told everything they know about milk. Fun facts: It takes 29 cups of milk to make 1 pound of butter. A cow can’t give milk until she has given birth to a calf. The average cow produces 90 glasses of milk each day-or about 200,000 glasses of milk throughout her life. A cow’s udder can hold 25-50 pounds of milk. American dairy farmers produced 156.6 billion pounds of milk in 1997. Most cows give more milk when they listen to music. Blue whale calves drink as much as 132 gallons of milk a day. A baby whale can increase its weight by 200 pounds in one day. Yak’s milk is pink. Camel’s milk does not curdle.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discussed: What kinds of things can you put on a tractor-trailer? We paired the children up to have a partner. Each child sat by their tractor on the folder game. They took turns drawing a card to see if the bale of hay matched the letter or animals on the ones on their tractor wagon. If they had a match they laid it on the matching bale of hay. If they did not have a match then they put the card back and the next person took a turn. We played until all of their tractors had matching bales of hay.

Social and Emotional Development: Discussed: What do you do if you spill something? We got to try chocolate or strawberry milk. Each child picked the kind they wanted and I made it for them.

Social Studies: Discussed: Where do you see flags? Explained that the European country of Switzerland has a flag that is red with a white cross in the middle. I showed the children how to draw the cross with chalk on the red paper. Switzerland has the world’s longest tunnel. I had a paper towel tube and we put cars in it to drive through the tunnel. Children in Switzerland play a game called, “Topfschlagen” which means “Hit the Pot”. I had a pot in the middle of the floor and had one child squeeze his/her eyes tight shut and hit the wooden spoon on the floor to find the pot. They were crawling with their eyes closed hitting the floor until they found the pot to hit. The children had a hard time keeping their eyes closed. Each child had a turn to do this. Switzerland is well known for its cheese and chocolates.

Language and Literacy: Discussed: What flavors of milk have you tasted? We looked at the journal page and I showed the children how to draw a cup on the brown page. We then discussed how we could turn it into chocolate milk. I painted the cup to show them chocolate milk and discussed how they had to stay in the lines since the cup doesn’t have holes in it.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Outside PlayCenter 2: My Little Journal-The children went to the brown page and colored the paintbrush brown. They then drew a cup and painted the cup brown to make chocolate milk.Center 3: Switzerland Flag- the children used white chalk on the red paper to draw a cross and make the flag of Switzerland.

Calendar:Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Keira is the new calendar and meteorologist for this week. She put the numbers on the calendar, discussed the pattern and discussed the weather. We reviewed our colors, shapes, Sign Language, Spanish and Sight words.

Fun Facts/Brainstorming:Reviewed what we learned on our Field trip on Friday at the Apple Orchard. We had so much fun on this field trip. Today the children told me everything they know about Cows. Fun facts: Cattle are herbivores that eat vegetation such as grass. Cows have one stomach that has four chambers which help break down what they eat. There are well over 1 billion cattle in the world. Cows are sacred in India and there are an estimated 300 million cows there. Young cattle are generally known as calves. Adult females are called cows. Adult males that are not castrated are generally called bulls. They are red/green color blind. In the bull fighting sport, bulls are angered by the movement of the cape not the red color. Cattle are farmed for a number of agricultural products including meat and dairy products.

Social and Emotional Development: Discussed: What types of food can be made from a cows milk? We looked at the Charting Choices poster and discussed each choice the children could make: milk, yogurt, cheese. Explained that all of these items come from a cow’s milk. The children came up one at a time and put a sticker in the column of the one they liked the best. We then discussed more, less and equal to.

Language and Literacy:Discussed: What kind of cheese is your favorite? We had some cheese cubes on a plate that we put in the middle of our circle. The children walked in a circle signing the song, “The Farmer and the Dell” . We continued with the verses until the rat takes the cheese. I picked a child to be the rat and they took the cheese and put it where it belonged on the food group poster. They then got to eat the cheese. We continued this until each child had a turn at being the rat and eating the cheese.

Creative Development:Discussed: How many spots do you think are on a cow? Explained that not all cows have spots. Cows come in different shapes, sizes colors and with or without spots. We looked at the Art they will be doing in afternoon centers.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discussed: What have you seen with spots on it? We counted to 12 in English and Spanish. The children had to tell me when to stop. We looked at their journal page and discussed what they will be doing in afternoon centers.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Wooden Blocks/Outside Center 2:My Little Journal-The children draw a cow on the page with 12. They will then dip their fingers into ink and make 12 spots on the cow. Center 3:Spotted Cow Art- The children painted the clothespins black for the legs. They will then tear pieces of tissue paper to glue onto the cow pattern as its spots. They will add wiggly eyes and clip on the black clothespins as their legs.

Calendar:Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. We found the correct number to put on the calendar. Discussed the pattern in English and Spanish and discussed the weather. We reviewed the colors, shapes, Spanish, Sign language, and Sight words.

Fun Facts/Brainstorming:Reviewed what they learned about Hay. Today the children told me everything they know about Horses! Fun facts: Horses can sleep both lying down and standing up. They can run shortly after birth. Domestic horses have a lifespan of around 25 years. A 19th century horse named ‘Old Billy’ is said to have lived 62 years. Horses have around 205 bones in their skeleton. They have been domesticated for over 5000 years. Horses are herbivores (plant eaters). Their eyes are bigger than any other mammal that lives on land. Because horse’s eyes are on the side of their head they are capable of seeing nearly 360 degrees at one time. Horses gallop at around 27 mph. The fastest recorded sprinting speed of a horse was 55mph. Estimates suggest that there are around 60 million horses in the world.

Social and Emotional Development: Discuss: Why do you wear shoes? Why do you think horses wear shoes? I had a real horse shoe and showed that to the children. Explained that many horses wear horseshoes to help keep their feet safe. We looked at the bottom of Gretchen’s shoe and described what we saw since everyone else didn’t have their shoes on. We then did a shoe rubbing of Gretchen’s shoe. All the children did a shoe rubbing in afternoon centers and compared their rubbing with other children’s and discussed.

Creative Development: Discuss: How do you stay warm when you get cold? Explained that horses can get cold, just like us. Blankets can keep us all warm and also keep horses warm. We learned how to weave a blanket yesterday and looked at those.

Language and Literacy:Discuss: What does a horseshoe look like? We looked at the real horse shoe and the children noticed it looked like a C and a U. We looked at the letter U and discussed the sound it makes. We then discussed words that begin with that letter. Each child came up one at a time to find the letter U on the alphabet strip. I then placed the horseshoe on one side of the room and the U on the other. The children had to gallop to each of the horseshoes really fast.

Physical Development: Discuss: What color horseshoe would you put on your horse? The children learned how to make the capital and lowercase letter U. They then came up one at a time to write it on the wipe off board. They also practiced writing the capital and lowercase Uu on their Journal pages and I Can write page.

Show and Tell: Each child brought an item that begins with the letter U. They came up one at a time to tell us about their item and discuss why they brought it.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1: Legos Center 2:My Little Journal-The children practiced writing their capital and lowercase Uu. They then traced the Hands-on Letter U at the top of the page and decorated it to turn it into a horseshoe. Center 3:I Can Write Project Sheet- They will practice writing the Uu on that as well.

Calendar:Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. We added the number to the calendar, discussed the pattern and weather. We reviewed the colors, shapes, Spanish, Sign Language and Sight words.

Fun Facts/Brainstorming: Reviewed what we learned about sheep. Today the children told me everything they know about Hay. Fun facts: Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried and stored for use as animal food, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is fed when or where there is not enough pasture or rangeland. Once hay is cut, dried and raked into windows, it is usually gathered into bales or bundles, then hauled to a central location for storage. Hay must be fully dried when baled and kept dry in storage. If hay is baled while too moist or becomes wet while in storage, there is a significant risk of spontaneous combustion.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discuss: How much hay do you think a horse can eat? We looked at the Discover Games Sheet. The horses have numbers on them. the children had to tell us the number and count out the matching number bales of hay. We did this several times so all the children could participate.

Language and Literacy:Discuss: If you had a horse, what would you name it? The children practiced galloping around the room. They then tiptoed around the room. We looked at the participation story, “Harry the Horse and the Big Pile of Hay.” The children predicted what they thought the story would be about. We read the story and discussed. We then read the story again and the children tiptoed and galloped with the story.

Science: Discuss: What has seeds? The children took a walk to find things in nature that grew from seeds. We brought the items in with us to explore them. We also looked at a squash from the garden and an apple. We opened the apple and squash and pulled all the seeds out. We then counted all the seeds in each. Discussed which one had more and less.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discuss: What is red on a farm? What is brown? We placed the color wands on opposite sides of the room. The children then went on a color hunt to find something with brown or red on it. The children then placed the object they found next to the matching wand.

Tumble Bus Day:See the form by the front door to see the activity they did today.

Show and Tell: The children were to bring in an item that grows from a seed. They each came up one at a time to tell about their items and discuss how they grow.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Outside PlayCenter 2:Horse Blanket- The children will learn how to weave the paper to make a horse blanket. Center 3: Construction Paper Apple Art- The children tore pieces of red construction paper to glue on the apple pattern. They used green for the leaf and yellow for the stem.

Calendar:Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. We found the number for the calendar, discussed the pattern and weather. Found the day of the week in Spanish. We all reviewed our colors, shapes, Spanish, Sign Language and Sight words.

Fun Facts/Brainstorming: Reviewed what we learned about farmers. Today the children told us everything they know about sheep. Fun facts: There are more than 1 billion sheep in the world. Female sheep are called Ewe and male sheep are called Ram. Young sheep under 14 months old are called lamb. Sheep’s milk is ideal for making cheese like Greek Feta, French Roquefort, Spanish manchego and sheep’s milk ricotta. It contains higher levels of calcuim, vitamins A, B and E and other nutritional elements than cow’s milk. There are 34.2 million sheep in New Zealand, which is approximately seven sheep for every human. Not only can sheep recognize up to 50 other sheep faces and remember them for 2 years, but they can also recogonize human faces.

Language and Literacy:Discussed: What feels soft? What feels scratchy? We looked at the Story Sequence cards and discussed each card and what was happening on that card. The children then told me what order the cards should go in to tell the story in order. We discussed how sheep make wool used in clothing. I had a sweater made of 100% wool. I passed that around for them to feel on their face and arms. They noticed how scratchy and warm it was. I then passed around cotton balls and they rubbed that on their faces and arms and noticed how soft that was. I had each child come up and read the label on their shirts and told them if their shirt had cotton or wool in it. We even had some shirts with rayon and polyester.

Physcial Development: Discussed: How do shepherds take care of sheep? We talked about how they heard them and use a long stick with a hook to bring them back with the rest of the herd or lead them to other places. Also discussed how dogs are used to herd sheep. We looked at the brown color wand and discussed the color in English and Spanish. I gave the wand to a child and they went to find something brown in the room and zap it with the wand.

Creative Development:Discussed: If you could have any color sheep, what color would it be? I showed the children the Barnyard Art they will be doing in afternoon centers. We used two sheep from that craft and the children had to put them somewhere in the room following my specific directions. I had two children at a time place the sheep in different areas depending on the directions I gave to them. For example, place the sheep on something red. Place the sheep under a green object. Place the sheep by something soft. etc.

Science: Discussed: What did you drink when you were a baby? What do you think a baby sheep (lamb) drinks? We learned the sign for “milk” but most of the kids already knew this sign. We practiced the sign. We then practiced saying “more milk please” in Sign. Each child took turns practicing. Even baby Maggie did the Signs with us!

Show and Tell: Each child was to bring in an item that was Brown.They came up one at a time to show their item and tell us about it and why they brought it.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1: Little PeopleCenter 2: Barnyard Art- The children will color the diorama and then cut on the lines and tape it so it stands up. They will then color their sheep and glue on cotton . They can play with their sheep in the diorama.

Calendar:Discussed the date in English and Spanish and wrote it in number form. Dylan is the calendar and meteorologist for this week but he is on fall break so we will be doing it together. Keira helped us find the numbers for the calendar and put them in the correct spot. She found the day of the week in Spanish, discussed the weather and pattern. We reviewed our colors, shapes, Spanish, Sign language and sight words.

Fun Facts/Brainstorming: Reviewed what the children learned about barns. Today the children told everything they know about Farmers. Fun facts: Farmers may learn about agriculture through a training program at a college or university. Farmers of livestock work throughout the year. Animals must be fed and watered daily. Dairy cows must be milked two or three times a day. Farmers on crop farms usually work from sunrise to sunset during the planting and harvesting seasons. During the rest of the year they plan next season’s crops, market their products and repair machinery. Crop farmers are responsible for planting, tilling, planning, fertilizing, cultivating, spraying, and harvesting. After they harvest, they make sure the crops are properly packaged, stored or marketed. Some farmers earn additional income by working a second job off the farm.

Language and Literacy: Discussed: Where do you see dirt or soil? We looked at the Postcards that they will be making in afternoon centers. Discussed all the different seeds they could plant and grow. They will write a note to someone to tell them what they are growing on the postcards.

Physical Development: Discussed: What do you like to eat? What do you think farmers like to eat? I held up the children’s name tags and they told me if it was theirs. That child read their full name and then they discussed what their first name begins with. We talked about how to form the first letter in their name. The children then all washed their hands and went to the kitchen to make their first letter in their name out of dough! They had to roll the dough out so that they could form it into the letter. They all had fun doing this. Thomas then used the egg to brush on the top of each dough letter. We baked it in the oven and they got to eat their letters at lunch.

Mathematics and Reasoning: Discussed: What do you think a farmer would do if one of his animals went missing? We looked at the two treasure chests. I told the children I would read the clues one at a time and they would try guessing what was inside the chest. This will be a farm animal. After each clue we tried to narrow down their guesses. Treasure chest 1: I live on a farm. I have 4 legs. I give you milk. What am I? (cow) I had one child sitting nicely to come up and pick the correct key and try to unlock the chest to see the animal that it is. Treasure chest 2: I live on a farm. I have 2 legs. I give you eggs. What am I? (chicken)

Social Studies: Discussed: Where do you think farms can be found? Explained that there are farms all over the world. What is grown on the farms depends on the climate, soil and the animals that live there. We looked at the World Map and discussed some of the different things grown different places. We found “Europe” on the map and discussed that Switzerland is located there. In Switzerland there are many dairy farms. Explained that dairy farmers take care of cows. They milk them and sell the milk to places to make cheese, yogurt, chocolate, ice cream and many other dairy products.

Afternoon Centers:Center 1:Outside play Center 2:Postcard-The children will dip their finger in paint to plant seeds on the postcard. They will then draw sprouts, leaves and produce growing from the seeds. They will write a note to someone telling about what they are growing.